kevinless:

TOP SIX EIGHT Lady Gaga Performances of 2011, as requested by pretty much everyone (if you’re one of my followers who tends to ignore Gaga posts, consider setting aside the chunk of time to read this and view some of the performances…or scroll past; it’s up to you):

Now, instead of explaining why each individual performance is so great, let me first try putting into words the breadth of Lady Gaga’s promotional campaign for Born This Way—try. For the last ten months, Lady Gaga has been travelling the world more thoroughly and tirelessly for promo than any artist—ever. Please, prove me otherwise. I of course mean that outside the context of a standard tour, though she did manage to sneak in one last 45 date leg of The Monster Ball in the top half of the year. Casual.

Every time a new single came out, she promoted it like it was the only single on the album. There was the world tour for “Born This Way”, the world tour for “Judas”, the world tour for “The Edge of Glory”, the world tour for “You & I”, and the current world tour for “Marry The Night”. Now of course, she managed to make “Hair” a staple around the world, and “Scheisse” snuck in there a few times—most effectively in the song’s country of inspiration at Germany’s Next Top Model. Even more impressively, the world seemed to roll out the red carpet for her wherever she went. It became normal for shows to dedicate entire episodes to her performances or even alter their sets to accomodate Gaga’s hunger for performing. She routinely brought her game to new demographics, and the word “headliner” was regularly attached to her name. Even when Gaga didn’t have a set appearance, she still did her best to never leave the stage. This meant bringing the songs to the people by making surprise appearances in clubs and bars (occasionally with old drag queen friends, w/e). We also cannot forget how many full shows Lady Gaga played as promotion, such as in Taiwan (44,000 people showed up to a 6,000 person venue), Singapore, and Sydney. Here we are at the end of the year, and while most stars are resting with family, Lady Gaga is still sneaking in quick promotional trips to Japan and preparing her New Year’s Eve performance (the audience of which should be astronomical).

Figuring out how to detail all of Gaga’s performances for the year in a brief manner makes it nearly impossible to mention something: the actual performances. Basically, this bitch delivered. She turned her Grammy performance into a three day long performance art piece that included showing up to rehearsals in a coffin only to be ‘reborn’ on stage for the live show. She melded high fashion and couture into performances that can be considered nothing short of athletic. She sang better than any of her contemporaries all year while doing something they didn’t do at all, which is dance. Someone’s putting something in her water because her dance skills improved tremendously this year, and she did not just save them for videos. Her VMA performance is perhaps my highlight for the year because it brought together so many things: incredible vocals, extraordinary execution of performance art, above par dancing (the imagery of her going at it with thirty male dancers following her lead is just special), bits on the piano, shock factor, and a good ‘ol authentic slip on beer for good measure.

The versatility of her performance was something to be admired as well. She was aggressive, powerful, “ugly”, beautiful, sexy, heartbreaking, and sometimes all at once. One moment she could be tearing up at the piano (still don’t know how she does it with those nails) while singing her heart out to “Hair”; the next she could be doing near acrobatics while belting, just casually surrounded by fire. To sum it up very swiftly, we are an incredibly spoiled fandom. The fact that we have more singles and a real tour ahead is incredible

Without further ado, my Top Eight Lady Gaga performances of the year (chronological order):

1. “Born This Way” at the 2011 Grammy Awards
2. Various surprise club performances (this one is from Kentucky…yes, Kentucky)
3. Europride (don’t forget this was preceded by a twenty minute speech on gay rights given to 30,000 people in Rome)
4. Paul O’Grady (“Hair”, “The Edge of Glory”, “You & I”, “BTW + Judas”)
5. Taratata (“Hair” [watch end for improvised French], “The Edge of Glory”, “Born This Way”)
6. “You & I” at the 2011 VMAs (MTV has inexplicably removed the video, so anyone can feel free to provide me a working link to the performance)
7. Bill Clinton’s A Decade of Difference (Full Set)
8. Children In Need (“Born This Way”, “The Edge of Glory”, “Marry The Night” [especially brilliant])

• Too many honorable mentions to count, although “Marry The Night” at the Grammy Nominations Concert is a recent favorite.

retrodancemonster:

Gaga thanking MTV and the Monsters in the MTV EMA Press Room